Los Angeles history

U.S. Doomed by a Culture of Leisure

In 1960, The Times was inserting This Week magazine in the Sunday papers. The editor was William I. Nichols, who countered the phrase “Better Dead Than Red” with the slogan “Better Brave Than Slave.”

"This Week's first editor, Mrs. William Brown Meloney, wrote the words quoted on the eve of World War II. We reprint them now, as a tribute to her -- and to mark the 25th anniversary of the magazine's first issue, which appeared Feb. 24, 1935. It is now a full generation since these words were written, but even in a world of missiles and H-bombs their message remains unchanged."

--William I. Nichols, Editor

The prolific Howard “Crisis in Morals” Whitman begins another series in The Times, launched with a pithy comment by a conveniently anonymous companion. This one reminds me of the “Athens vs. Sparta, U.S. vs. the Soviet Union” lectures we had in sophomore history class.

“It is doubtful that teenage charge accounts will solve our youngsters’ problems of civilized behavior, sex orientation, respect for elders or serious preparation for adult living,” Whitman says. [What a curious mention of homosexuality – or at least I take it that way. Hm. – lrh]

The Times op-ed page reeks of must and mildew: Yet another stodgy, cliched political cartoon by Bruce Russell, and a piece by Kyle Palmer lobbing another hand grenade at the Democrats. Palmer is usually described as The Times’ political powerbroker, a staunch Republican who made Richard Nixon. But he strikes me as a sad fellow who was utterly blinded by his agenda.

Feb. 28, 1960: Are the Dodgers going to get rid of Carl Furillo, who played only 50 games last season? The answer will come in May.